Bigwords.page - Turn any screen into a sign with a URL
Show HN: Bigwords.page – Turn any screen into a sign. The URL is the app
Bigwords.page transforms any browser into a full-screen sign, timer, or message using just a URL. No app, no login, and nothing stored on a server. Create displays for arrivals, countdowns, Wi-Fi passwords, and more by simply sharing a link. The built-in editor makes it easy, or you can hand-craft URLs with settings for colors, fonts, animations, and QR codes. It's open source, private by design, and works on any device.
The link is the whole display, so you can share it or bookmark it.
- SpeakingOfBrad
I had the idea for BIGWORDS.PAGE when I wanted to display a message on a tablet that I had remote management control over, but no physical access. Configuring it to be a kiosk browser is easy, but how do I get the browser to show my message? So I made the URL be the message.
It uses a URL fragment to configure the message. Browsers don't send URL fragments to the server, so I never see your message. There's no backend, and no storage.
All parameters are documented, so generating a message link is easy. There's also a built-in editor to make it extra easy.
https://bigwords.page/#Hello,%20HN!&bg=ff6600&fg=000000&font...
There are a few extra features like slides, animations, and countdowns and timers. QR codes too. Not too fancy, but hopefully enough to be useful.
I know the uses for this are pretty niche. But it may be one of those things that you keep as a nugget in your brain, a tool in your back pocket. Not something you use often, but when you do it makes things just a little bit easier.
It's open source (MIT), and self-hostable if that's your thing.
Let me know what you think.
- pvillano
https://bigwords.page/#smol!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!%20!...!
You seem to have the same bug I had when I first implemented https://screaming.saej.in/
In Firefox, scrollWidth includes spaces that extend into the margin, so it's possible for text to fit perfectly on the screen, but scrollWidth > clientWidth. Fix here https://saej.in/posts/screaming/
- paulsmith
Who remembers https://bigassmessage.com/
- ceejayoz
Hook it up to voice control so I can put an iPad in the back window of the car and tell other drivers… things.
- KingMachiavelli
Completely different architecture, but would be amazing if another device could control what message (or photo, embedded video) is displayed.
There's a huge industry around digital signage and I've always felt it could be replaced with a simple Chromium kiosk + auto-refreshed webpage content. There's really no need for expensive HDMI connections or custom video streams when we already have browsers.
- isaac-harvey
This sort of incredibly simple, crisp idea is what changes the world. Great job!
- wateralien
Very cool. Could you add base64 encoding to the query part so that it doesn’t hint at what the screen will say from the link text. Kind of gives the joke away sometimes.
- mcrowder65
This reminds me of at a previous job people would leave their laptops unlocked. Security threatened people with yubikeys. So I used that opportunity to create https://butts.netlify.app so that any time someone left their laptop unlocked I’d go there and they’d be met with the word butts.